By Tensei tenseimusic Bandcamp tensei-1 SoundCloud YouTube YouTube ← Heir of Grief 8-bit Previous track by this artist → Dance of Storms Next track by this artist.
Cover art by Kett kettleskanvas DeviantArt kettleskanvas.com Other → Stepping Stones Next track art by this artist.
Released 9/16/2023.
Duration: 2:38.

Listen on Bandcamp or YouTube.

Read artist commentary.

Also released as:

• (20173/13/2017; about 6 years, 6 months earlier) Duet (Strife 2)

Flashes & games that feature Duet:

• [S] Catharsis. (as Duet)

Artist commentary:

Tensei:

Homestuck but instead of a webcomic it's a delightfully intimate Studio Ghibli animated feature that all too briefly rekindles our sense of childlike innocence and fantasy, reminds us that anime might not have been a mistake after all, and brings tears to our eyes at the end of it all that we quickly wipe away because we can't be seen crying at an animated movie.

Kett:

Welcome to Studio Ghibli’s Homestuck

This track sounds exactly as Tensei’s commentary describes it. As soon as I heard it, the image of Rose and John playing together in a large green field, clouds behind them as the wind blows, immediately came to mind.

I tried my best to replicate the Ghibli style whilst still keeping it Homestuck. Researching Ghibli backgrounds was quite fascinating, because until then I hadn’t realised Hayao Miyazaki liked to create a sense of openness with his scenes. The composition of them often involves a large open plain and then a small section for the focal point, so I tried doing the same thing with this piece. Keeping Rose and John to the right-hand side, while giving the sense of a much larger and calmer open space to the left.